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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529972">Pizza for Two</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/meimeireads/pseuds/meimeireads'>meimeireads</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Pizza Delivery?, Anxiety, Catra Needs Therapy (She-Ra), Drunk Adora (She-Ra), Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Enemies, Hurt/Comfort, Jock Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Requited Unrequited Love, Useless Lesbians, all characters are human unless otherwise specified, but its mostly angst lol sry not sry, but she's too proud to seek help</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:55:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,493</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529972</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/meimeireads/pseuds/meimeireads</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Catra is trying her best to forget Adora, she really is. But can she help it if she's craving the pizza they shared together in their childhood? If only the girl she was trying to forget didn't just take a job delivering pizza...<br/>-------<br/>aka Domino's Pizza is the key to Adora reconnecting with her estranged best friend/crush.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>111</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Crossing of Paths</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first fic, pls be kind. I am open to constructive criticism.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Catra was very busy glaring at the ceiling. Her phone had just buzzed, a notification for Snapchat lighting up the screen and illuminating the dark room. It had read “You have memories from 3 years ago today!” Catra knew exactly what she was going to find if she opened her phone, so she resolved to ignore it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And yet, there she found herself: staring up at the ceiling for the fifteenth minute straight, unable to think about anything else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the sixteenth minute, Catra huffed and snatched her phone from her desk. She paced back and forth in her dorm room, wishing her roommate would interrupt her brooding as she so often did. She really didn’t need to spend her time daydreaming about what could have been.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, Scorpia, the one time I need you to bother me…” she muttered. She threw herself down onto her bed and unlocked her phone. She hovered her finger over the Snapchat icon for a few seconds, giving herself one final moment of hesitation before she opened the app and swiped over to her memories.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s crystal blue eyes, frozen in the eternality of the photo, stared back at her through the cracked screen of her phone. Her smile was wide, captured mid-laugh. After a few moments, Catra took a moment to tear her eyes away from Adora’s and took in the entirety of the picture. She and Adora were sprawled in bed, one of the many identical blue-gray cots of Shadow Weaver’s foster home. Adora’s head was tucked into Catra’s shoulder. Catra’s long hair was held away from her face with her signature red headband, which she hadn’t worn since she chopped all her hair off at the beginning of the school year. She had even sold the beloved headband to a random classmate, no longer seeing any use for the accessory that only held memories instead of hair. Back in the picture, Catra’s face was grinning into Adora’s, her nose buried in the blonde’s stupid hair poof.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra took a deep inhale, as though she would be able to smell through past-Catra’s nose in the memory. Of course, she smelled nothing but her own sheets. They smelled of lavender; Scorpia must have washed them recently. Sighing, she tapped her screen to exit out of the memories. To her surprise, there was one more memory that Snapchat cruelly wanted Catra to relive. And even better, this one was a video.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra curled in on herself as she watched her phone play the video. Indie rock music played in the background of Catra and Adora’s room. Past-Catra was laughing as she manned the camera, zooming in on Adora. Adora glanced at Catra, noticed she was filming, and waggled her eyebrows. She chomped down on a slice of pizza which had begun drooping with melted cheese in her hands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘Dork,’ Catra thought to herself. She felt herself smiling. She remembered the moment well, even without Snapchat reminding her. Catra even remembered exactly what was on the pizza: ham and jalapen</span>
  <span>o peppers. It was a happy memory, one of rare occurrence at Shadow Weaver’s. If she had been home, there would have been no pizza and no music, Catra was sure of that much. But in those few moments, like the one she was rewatching for the fifth time, Catra was sure she had been happy then. After all, past-Catra didn’t know then how Adora would ditch her just a few weeks later. Catra gritted her teeth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shutting off her phone, Catra rolled over and faced the wall. Scorpia had made her appearance too late; now she had to deal with the feelings seeing Adora left behind, even if it was just through the screen. She tried to forget the blonde nightmare, the one who haunted her despite not having seen her in 3 years. Catra noticed she was staring at her Fright Zone State pennant which hung on her wall and was immediately reminded just why she hadn’t seen her so-called best friend in so long. It had been nearly three years since Adora had abandoned her for the prissy, uptight Bright Moon, the other university in the city of Etheria. Groaning, she turned around the other way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘Idiot, you can’t look at </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>without being reminded of her,” the intrusive thought pushed its way to the forefront of Catra’s mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Scorpia chose that moment of deep reminiscence to crack open Catra’s door and stick her head through. Practically hissing at the sudden bright light, Catra jumped and tried to throw her phone underneath her blanket to hide it. It was a reflex left over from her days at Shadow Weaver, when she and Adora would jump feet away from each other to avoid being caught together. Not that they were ever… together. They were just close, that’s all. Unfortunately, it had been a while since Catra had needed to hide things with such speed, and her aim had seen the effects of the lack of practice. She heard more than saw her phone miss her blankets completely and hit the wall. Both Catra and Scorpia grimaced at the sound of the already-broken screen shattering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uhhm, hey Wildcat…,” Scorpia nervously greeted, knowing from past experience how crabby Catra could get when her moping was interrupted. “Just wanted to let you know Entrapta is coming over for game-night. Do you want to order in some pizza?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra simply gestured to the phone on the ground, the screen of which was, at the moment, fritzing in multiple-coloured stripes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“... I mean, I guess I could call instead,” Scorpia amended, turning to leave, “Is pepperoni okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a bout of spontaneity, fueled by memories of Adora, Catra suggested, “Actually, can we try something different?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora swung open the doors to Domino’s Pizza, tripping over herself as she sprinted towards the back kitchen. She caught herself on the counter, sheepishly smiling back at the customers who were staring at her. She tipped her Domino’s visor at them before running through the employee’s entrance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She finally stopped running when she got to the back of the kitchen. She hunched over and braced her hands on her knees, panting to get precious air back into her lungs. Purple sneakers came into view. Adora chuckled lightly; her manager never cared too much about the company dress code. Nothing could stop her from adding a little bit of purple to the uniform to match her vibrant hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Impressive,” the voice above her marveled. Adora glanced up from her crumpled position to see Glimmer checking her watch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You managed to be only 17 minutes late this time,” Glimmer said, smiling as she held out a hand. Adora accepted the hand and stood up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wincing, she apologized. “I really am sorry, Glimmer. Coach scheduled an emergency practice, which ended up running long, and then I had only a half an hour to finish that paper on Dickinson,” Adora rambled, “Remember? That one that I didn’t have enough time to finish last week ‘cause of the-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer cut her off. “Adora, Adora, chill! My god! I know you’re busy; you don’t have to make excuses to me. Just go deliver the pizzas and I’m happy.” She handed Adora the heat-insulated delivery bag.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks Glim, I really appreciate this.” It was only her fourth day since her dorm neighbor had given her the job at the local Domino’s, a job she desperately needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer waved her hand, as if she was brushing Adora’s statement away. “Like I said, don’t worry about it. You’ll get the hang of it eventually,” she shrugged, “It’s a slow day anyway. There’s only one order for you to deliver so far.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora shouldered the bag. “Alright, see you later… you should check on Sea Hawk. Looks like he tricked someone into letting him man the ovens.” She smirked and pointed over at the other side of the kitchen where one of their floormates, Sea Hawk, was sneakily playing with the dials on the pizza oven.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer whirled around. “Sea Hawk!” she shrieked. Heads from around the pizzeria swiveled at the sound. Adora saw Glimmer’s boyfriend, Bow, jump and grab a fire extinguisher out of instinct. “I swear to god,” Glimmer yelled, charging at Sea Hawk who yelped and started running away, “if you set another oven on fire… It’ll be the last oven you ever see!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora laughed at her friends as she left them to their madness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she drove through the Fright Zone State campus, Adora kept her eyes peeled for signs of a slender, tan, wild-haired girl. She knew that her best friend… ex-best friend… Catra went to the college, which they had both grown up dreaming they would attend together. Even though Adora ended up going to Bright Moon University about fifteen minutes away, she had always dreamed that she would run across Catra by chance and they could become friends again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe they would both reach for the same cup on the coffee shop counter at the same time and their fingers would touch. Or maybe they would both reach for the same book and their fingers would touch. Or maybe they would be walking past each other on the street and their fingers would touch. And then maybe while their fingers were touching, they would lean in towards each other and their lips would-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora was startled out of her daydream as she spotted a figure in the distance with long dark hair and a red headband. She straightened up behind the wheel and pressed down on the gas pedal. As she approached the girl, Adora gave herself a roll of the shoulders, took a breath for confidence, and stuck an elbow out her window.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Ca-” Adora started, as the girl’s face came into view.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she immediately brought her arm back to the wheel and glued her eyes on the stretch of road in front of her. Her cheeks burned bright red. That was </span>
  <em>
    <span>NOT</span>
  </em>
  <span> Catra. She had no idea who that girl was, but she didn’t dare even look through the rear-view mirror to see if the girl was looking back at her. She was so embarrassed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘She probably thinks I’m crazy,’ Adora thought to herself, ‘That’s what you get for looking for Catra for three years running. It’s time to know when to stop, Adora. If you haven’t seen her yet, you aren’t going to ever see her again.’ The thought made Adora’s heart hurt. Not just hurt, but ache, burn, and every feeling in between. Adora gritted her teeth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘No, ma’am. No crying today. Save it for calculus class.’ But still, her eyes searched over every student she passed on the way to her delivery.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora pulled up to a gray, monochrome, concrete slab of a building. She glanced at the delivery note to double check the address. Black Garnet Hall, Apt. 2B. Yep, this was the correct building. She grabbed the pizza box out of the heat-insulated bag and headed up to the front steps of the building. She hit the buzzer for 2B, and a few seconds later, she heard the </span>
  <em>
    <span>click-click</span>
  </em>
  <span> of the front door unlocking itself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she headed up the stairs, Adora pondered how she could mistake a random girl for Catra. She could have sworn that the red headband had been the one that she had seen holding back Catra’s hair so many years ago. Adora shook her head. Could it be that she was starting to forget Catra? She hoped not. Her precious memories were the only thing Adora had left of her ex-… even after so long, Adora still wasn’t sure how to refer to Catra. Ex-best friend didn’t seem to capture the depth of the connection that they had shared. Ex-lover… Adora tested the phrase in her head. It tasted bitter in her mouth. As much as Adora wished she could have called Catra her lover, it just wasn’t true.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sighing, Adora knocked on the door to Apartment 2B. She heard two or three voices shout “Not it!” from inside before a cacophony of laughter erupted with interjections of “You said it last and you know it!” and “Your turn, Scorpia!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few moments later, the door opened to a towering giant of a woman with platinum white hair and an undercut. Adora stood in the doorway for a few moments in awe of the woman’s defined musculature before she cleared her throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, I have a…” Adora paused to read the contents of the pizza that Bow had marked on the box, “a ham and… jalepen</span>
  <span>o pepper pizza for Scorpia?” Adora furrowed her brow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, it’s funny, I used to eat this exact order with my… um, I mean I used to get this order all the time when I was younger.” Adora stuttered over her sentence before deciding that this random stranger didn’t need to hear her tragic backstory with Catra in order to know that she was familiar with the unique pizza toppings combination. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Scorpia nodded while she rummaged in a small coin purse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, my roommate suggested it!” she acknowledged absentmindedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh, interesting...” Adora rocked back and forth on her toes. She looked up and down the hallway, pretending like there was something incredibly interesting about the doorframe while Scorpia looked for cash. Suddenly, it felt like every nerve in her body was lit on fire as Adora heard a high, lilting laugh from inside the apartment. It sounded exactly like the laugh Adora heard after she and Catra pulled pranks on Kyle at Shadow Weaver’s. Just like the laugh that would burst forth from the bed next to hers as Catra tried to stay quiet while looking at cat videos Adora would send her late at night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Haha, Entrapta, blue shell incoming!” the voice pierced through Adora’s daze like an arrow. Adora craned her head, trying to get a peek into the apartment around Scorpia’s bulky frame.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Noooo,” another voice wailed, presumably Entrapta’s. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘You’re probably being crazy, Adora. This is just like the girl on the street all over again,’ Adora tried to rationalize.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah shit,” Scorpia cursed, “Do you have any spare cash, Catra?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s heart stopped. She felt her eyes go as wide as dollar coins. She heard some sort of pitiful whine-gasp hybrid leave her. “Catra?” she gasped. Scorpia turned sideways, revealing an equally wide-eyed Catra staring back at Adora from the couch. Somewhere in the back of Adora’s brain, she registered the sound of Waluigi wailing as he fell off Rainbow Road. Adora could barely move. After nearly 3 years of nothing but radio silence, here was Catra, just sitting there a few feet from her. And she had ordered ham and jalapeno, no less.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Adora,” Catra finally said after what seemed like hours of tense silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh! You two know each other?” Scorpia pointed between the two girls, “How fun!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora closed her mouth. She hadn’t even realized that it had opened in the first place. Her tongue was dry and her mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. She wanted to say something cool. Something worthy of fingers touching in a coffee shop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately all that came out was, “You… have short hair now.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Idiot. Stupid. Idiot.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra reached up and self-consciously touched a strand of hair messily falling from her pixie cut. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She looked good</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Really good.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Scorpia coughed awkwardly. “Yep, that she does… that she does… uhmm, Catra, you wanna pay for the pizza now?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora watched Catra let go of her hair somewhat aggressively. Her jaw clenched and she looked away from Adora and glared at the floor. She stalked over to her bag and brought it to the entryway where all three of them were now crowding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘Oh shit. Oh no. This didn’t happen in the coffee shop dream,’ Adora fretted silently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Three years, and that’s the best apology that you can come up with? ‘You have short hair now?’” Catra sneered in Adora’s face. She snatched the pizza box out of Adora’s hands and gave it to Scorpia.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I mean, you do-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks for the pizza,” Catra growled, “Now leave me alone.” She shoved a crumpled handful of bills into Adora’s arms, making her stumble back a step. Then she slammed the door in her face.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Never Ever Getting Rid of Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The moral of the story is that Adora has the memory of a goldfish.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As you can probably tell, my dialogue skills need some work... please bear with me &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Now leave me alone.”</p>
<p>After Catra slammed the door in Adora’s face, her composure immediately crumpled. She buried her face in her hands.</p>
<p>‘Great fucking job, Catra. You’ve screwed things up yet again,’ she berated herself. She could practically feel Scorpia’s eyes on her, completely baffled at the entire situation that had just unfolded in the past thirty seconds. She heard Adora on the other side of the door. </p>
<p>“Uh, yeah! That’s cool, that’s fine. I, uh, I gotta get back to work anyway…”</p>
<p>Catra winced. She peered through the peephole in the door and saw Adora, looking ridiculous through the fish-eyed glass. She didn’t look like she was going anywhere. In fact, it looked like she was frozen to the ground. Catra’s heart gave a little jump as Adora looked right at her, though she knew Adora was only looking at the peephole. Her eyes were as blue as ever.</p>
<p>“What do you mean ‘apology?’” Adora half-shouted in confusion to be heard through the door. Welp, that certainly broke the spell. Catra rolled her eyes and scoffed at the door, loud enough to be certain Adora would hear it. She turned and stalked back to the couch where Entrapta and Mario Kart were patiently waiting. She aggressively picked her controller back up and started driving.</p>
<p>“Welcome back,” Entrapta chirped cheerfully, setting aside a circuit board she had been tinkering with and picking up her controller. She didn’t seem to have paid attention to what had just happened. Catra was glad. She just wanted to forget about it and play Mario Kart.</p>
<p>Scorpia hovered by the door for a few more moments, peering through the peephole every so often to see if Adora had left yet. She took out a slice of pizza and took a bite. Almost immediately, her face turned bright red. Catra had figured Scorpia wouldn’t enjoy the pizza, she didn’t have as good of a tolerance for spice as Catra. After a quick coughing fit and a guzzled bottle of water, Scorpia put the slice back in the box.</p>
<p>“Well, that’s… fun,” she commented. She sidled over to Catra, who was silently seething at both the Adora shitshow as well as her current position behind Entrapta on Rainbow Road. Out of the corner of her eye, Catra could see Scorpia twiddling her thumbs nervously as she chose the words she wanted to say.</p>
<p>“Uhm, so how do you know the pizza delivery girl?” she seemed to settle on. </p>
<p>“She’s my…” Catra glanced at the front door. She could see the shadows of Adora’s feet through the gap between the door and the floor. “We grew up together.”</p>
<p>“Cool, cool. So… why are you mad at her?”</p>
<p>Catra ground her teeth. “She knows what she did.”</p>
<p>“Right, uh huh, uh huh, but I <em> don’t </em> … so maybe you could enlighten me?” Catra watched as the shadow wavered. <em> Finally, she’s fucking leaving. </em></p>
<p>“She broke a promise. An important one.” Catra muttered, tired of the conversation. The purpose of game night was to <em> forget </em> about moping. She didn’t ask for a therapy session. The shadow outside froze. <em> Did she hear me? I mean, it’s not like she didn’t know. </em></p>
<p>Seemingly satisfied, Scorpia plopped down onto the couch as Entrapta crossed the finish line. She threw her hands up, cheering in celebration, and knocking the pizza box and sending the pie flying until it landed facedown on the floor. </p>
<p>“Oops,” Scorpia winced, “sorry guys, my bad.”</p>
<p>Catra shrugged and grunted noncommittally as she selected the course for the next race. She was so used to Scorpia’s clumsiness, that these sort of incidents didn’t bother her anymore. Besides, she wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.</p>
<p>*******</p>
<p>Adora groaned loudly as she lay on the stainless steel countertop back in the Domino’s kitchen, her head hanging off the side. Through her upside down vision, she could see Glimmer swinging her legs next to her on a tall wooden stool.</p>
<p>“Okay, let me get this straight,” Glimmer huffed, leaning forward on her knees. She put her fingers to her temples and squeezed her eyes closed, trying to visualize the situation. </p>
<p>“You delivered the pizza to this girl.”</p>
<p>“Yep.”</p>
<p>“And this girl… is your long-lost childhood best friend, with whom you’ve been in love with your entire life.”</p>
<p>“That would be correct.”</p>
<p>“Fucking lesbians,” Glimmer grumbled under her breath before continuing, “And now she’s mad at you.”</p>
<p>Adora groaned again. “I don’t understand!” she wailed, pressing her hands to her head as she swung herself into a sitting position. </p>
<p>“I mean, did you do anything to make her mad?” Bow asked, wandering past balancing four trays of garlic knots. Adora thought for a moment, which happened to be incredibly hard. If she was being honest with herself, Adora’s mind was still stuck on seeing Catra after so long. She looked exactly the same, and yet so different. Her hair was shorter, and she seemed… taller. But her eyes were the same. The way she looked at Adora was the same, at least for those few seconds before she shut her out.</p>
<p>“Well…, there was that one time that I tried telling her how I felt, but then I… forgot to do that and accidentally tried jumping her bones?” Adora guessed. She doubted that was the reason Catra was angry at her because that had happened a few months prior to the last time they had seen each other. But in the midst of thinking about Catra, Adora couldn’t help remembering the situation.</p>
<p>“You… What?!” Glimmer shrieked, drawing the attention of the entire pizzeria once again. She slapped Adora on the back of her head. Bow’s hand followed quickly after.</p>
<p>Rubbing the back of her head, Adora wondered out-loud, “She mentioned something about a promise, I think?” She wracked her brain, searching every memory of every interaction she could remember for a clue.</p>
<p>“Oh my god!” Adora started, suddenly, “I’m such an idiot!” She decided to ignore how both Bow and Glimmer both rolled their eyes and gave an ‘of course’ gesture to one another.</p>
<p>“When we both left for college, I promised her that I would keep in touch.”</p>
<p>“Adora, you didn’t text her or anything?” Glimmer went wide-eyed incredulously.</p>
<p>“I mean, I did, but she must have gotten a new phone… I kept getting automated messages in response. But I didn’t even think to use Snapchat or something!” Adora smacked her forehead with her palm. “And then Coach Angella had the entire team delete social media so we would focus, and then I completely forgot.”</p>
<p>“Ha, yeah, my mom sucks. Sorry on her behalf,” Glimmer joked, but Adora was no longer listening. She hopped off the table and went over to the employee lockers to grab her phone.</p>
<p>“She doesn’t even know I’ve been trying to find her this whole time! I’m going to redownload Snapchat and apologize right now,” she hollered over her shoulder. Glimmer sighed and took Bow’s hand. She cradled it against her cheek.</p>
<p>“I hate lesbians,” she lamented.</p>
<p>“Sure you do,” Bow cooed, rolling his eyes as he kissed her forehead.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>
  <em> @agrayskull24 to @applesaucemeowmeow </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hey Catra! <em> - 15 min ago </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was great seeing you today, I missed you! <em> - 10 min ago </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m so sorry that I haven’t kept in touch, and now it’s been a whole 3 years! <em> - 8 min ago </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>We should catch up, let me know when you wanna hang out! <em> - 5 min ago </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Adora stared at her phone for nearly an hour. She tried getting up a few times to go study or do pushups on the floor, but she never made it past five minutes before she found herself checking her phone again to see if Catra had responded. But every time, she saw that her messages hadn’t even been opened. <em> Is she really so angry at me that she won’t even let me try to apologize?  </em></p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>
  <em> Bzzt. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Bzzt. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Bzzt.  </em>
</p>
<p>“Catra! Your phone is going off again!” Entrapta yelled from the couch, eyes glued to the screen. Game night had progressed from Mario Kart to Overcooked 2.</p>
<p>“I know, Entrapta. I’m sitting right next to it,” Catra exasperated, “I’m igno-Get the rice, Scorpia, the rice!”</p>
<p>Scorpia yelped. “Sorry, sorry, I’m going!” She put together the final order and sent it to the customer. All three of them relaxed into the couch as the game’s timer went off.</p>
<p>“Good teamwork, Super Pal Trio!” Scorpia exclaimed, high fiving Entrapta over Catra’s head. Catra ducked under their arms and stood up, stretching her back.</p>
<p>“Entrapta, just take my lead and ignore my phone. It’s not like I can see any of the messages I’m getting anyway,” Catra explained as she headed to the window where Melog, her cat, was scratching to be let in. She had adopted the stray earlier in the year as an emotional support animal, but they sort of came and went as they felt like it.</p>
<p>Entrapta made grabby-hands at her phone across the room. “If you would just let me take a look at it…” Catra sprinted back across the apartment to snatch the phone off the table before Entrapta could make a move to take it.</p>
<p>“No!” She snapped, as if scolding a puppy, “We all remember what you did to that damn Roomba.”</p>
<p>“Emily!” Scorpia howled. Her face went somber. “May she rest in peace.”</p>
<p>“Catra, obviously I’m not going to strap a knife to your phone and let it roam around the apartment,” Entrapta huffed, “I never use the same design twice.” She seemed insulted at the very thought.</p>
<p>“Either way, you’re not getting your hands on my phone. I’ll take it to the repair kiosk or something when I have time.”</p>
<p>Entrapta shrugged. “Your loss.”</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>The next day, Adora found herself laying on a bench facing Black Garnet Hall, waiting for Catra to make an appearance. After a night of waking up every few hours throughout the night to check her phone for any new messages, she was practically a zombie. She had gotten herself out of soccer practice by telling Coach Angella that she felt sick, which was technically true. Thankfully, she didn’t have to work today, or she probably would have fallen asleep behind the wheel of the company car.</p>
<p>After a quick two bus rides, Adora set up camp on the bench. She brought her laptop so that she could tell herself she wasn’t making a <em> complete </em> waste of time. And surprisingly, over the hours she spent in-between glancing at every person who left Black Garnet Hall, Adora actually completed a significant amount of work, simply fueled by the fear of looking awkward in front of all the students passing her on the sidewalk.</p>
<p>At some point, a seedy, pale man in an FZ State letterman jacket who insisted on being called “Hordak” approached her. He asked her if she wanted something to help keep her awake, which half-asleep Adora gladly accepted. In the moment, it seemed like such a good idea. But as Adora laid on the bench, the first stars of the night swirling in her vision, she started to regret her decision.</p>
<p>Adora was shaken out of her reverie by a buzzing from the building. Sitting up, she saw a girl with long, teal hair tied messily into a bun under a Papa John’s hat. She wielded a pizza box under one arm and was pressing the intercom of the building with the other. A voice, tinny but still recognizable, came through the system.</p>
<p>“Come on up.” <em> Catra! </em> That’s why she was here. She needed to see her. She couldn’t exactly remember why, but she knew that she needed to explain… something. Adora stood up, and immediately sat back down as her vision went blurry from the headrush. Panicking, she saw the girl start to walk inside the building.</p>
<p>“Hey! Wait! You there!” Adora hollered. She tried to stand up, this time with success, and made her way over to the door. Thankfully, the girl had heard her and stuck her foot in the door to keep it from locking behind her.</p>
<p>“Can I help you?” she asked. She looked incredibly <em>bored</em>.</p>
<p>“I mean, of course she’s bored, she works for Papa John’s,” Adora thought aloud. She glanced at the girl’s name tag. <em> Mermista. </em></p>
<p>“Excuse you?”</p>
<p>Adora giggled, “Whoopsie, that was supposed to be a me thought… but then I made it a we thought!”</p>
<p>Mermista looked at Adora like she was crazy. “Uhm… okay, I’m gonna go-”</p>
<p>“Wait, is that pizza for Catra?” Adora cut her off as she turned to go inside.</p>
<p>“Why should I tell you?” Mermista deadpanned. Adora sighed and took a deep breath to prepare herself.</p>
<p>“Catra and I were both orphaned from a young age and we were raised in the same foster home,” Adora rattled off in the same breath, “and she’s hilarious, and competitive, and mean, but in a cool way, and she’s the perfect size for cuddling, but anyway, the foster home was run by Shadow Weaver, who was a total bitch who manipulated us to no end, but that’s a story for another time. There was one time though, when-”</p>
<p>“Oh. My. God. Please stop. I literally could not care less,” Mermista interrupted.</p>
<p>“Sorry… Hey! Could I buy the pizza off you?” Adora pled, sprinting back over to the bench to grab her computer and her bag. Mermista paused for a moment, presumably debating the ramifications of not delivering the pizza directly to Catra, before agreeing.</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Adora handed Mermista a $20 before crushing her in a bear hug.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” she whimpered, tearing up into her shoulder, “Thank you so much, Mermista.”</p>
<p>“Uhm, yeah. No problem, stranger.”</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>Catra stroked Melog in her lap as she reviewed her notes for her International Relations midterm. She didn’t really care for the class, but it was the last required course she needed before fulfilling her requirements for her Political Science major. Melog suddenly hopped off Catra’s lap, and she was about to go follow them when the doorbell rang.</p>
<p>Opening the door, her jaw dropped. There was Adora, leaning on the doorframe far too much to be considered casual with a stupid smirk on her face.</p>
<p>“Heyy, Catra,” the blonde slurred. <em> Is she drunk? </em></p>
<p>“What the fu- How many pizza places do you work at?” Catra sputtered. <em> Oh my god, I’m never going to be able to order pizza ever again. </em></p>
<p>“Huh? I dont- I work for Domino’s, silly!” Adora stumbled into the apartment. Catra was so confused, she didn’t even have the presence of mind to do anything but let Adora fall into her arms.</p>
<p>“Adora? Are you drunk?” Catra struggled as she practically dragged Adora to the sofa.</p>
<p>Adora giggled and hiccuped. “No! I’m fine! I made a new best friend! His name is Hordak!”</p>
<p>“Ah geez, that’s Entrapta’s boyfriend. He’s such a fucking creep,” Catra breathed a sigh of relief. She had tried Hordak’s shit before. Adora would be loopy, but fine for the most part. After making sure Adora wouldn’t fall off the couch, she stood up and ran a hand through her hair. </p>
<p>“God, Adora, I can’t do this right now. I have to study for midterms!” Catra lightly slapped Adora’s hand away from the bowl of candy sitting on the side-table. “Don’t you have midterms?”</p>
<p>“I mean… yeah, but I already finished studying…” Adora’s head lolled onto the pillow next to her.</p>
<p>“Of course you did,” Catra scoffed under her breath, “What are you doing here, Adora?”</p>
<p>Adora squinted and put a finger on her chin. “I… Oh! I bought you a pizza!” She grinned and held up the box. Catra’s heart soared. The way Adora was acting… without inhibition or nervousness, it was like they had never spent a day apart.</p>
<p>Adora abruptly faced away from Catra and pouted, “I can’t believe you ordered Papa John’s. It’s like… it’s like betrayal!” Catra’s heart immediately sank back down. <em> Like you’re one to talk about betrayal </em>. </p>
<p>“They aren’t even that good,” Adora continued to complain, “Their crust tastes like death and- OH MY GOSH is that a cat?” Adora scrambled off the couch and started army-crawling towards Melog, who had stopped licking themselves to stare at the intoxicated monster making its way over.</p>
<p>“Their name is Melog. Adora, be careful, they’re an alley cat, and they’re not used to-” Catra faltered as Melog started purring and rubbing their head on Adora’s leg.</p>
<p>“An alley cat, huh? Raised on the streets, were you buddy? Like me and Catra!” Adora remarked, not pausing her head scratches. Catra felt herself blush. If she was like Melog, she would have started rubbing herself on Adora a long time ago.</p>
<p>Adora laughed, “I can’t believe you of all people have a cat.” Melog rolled onto their back and let Adora rub their belly.</p>
<p>“What is that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>“Well, I just mean, you hate all living things!” Adora remarked cheerfully. Catra frowned.</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, times have changed, Adora. I’m not the same person I used to be,” she said tartly. Adora stood up and grabbed Catra’s shoulders. Afraid that Adora would collapse again, Catra reached up and clasped Adora’s hands where they lay.</p>
<p>“That reminds me,” Adora proclaimed, “I remember why I came here. I wanted to formally apologize for not fulfilling my promise.” Catra felt her eyes widen.</p>
<p>“I didn’t keep in touch with you like I said I would after we left for college. I tried texting you, but I didn’t know your new phone number. And I forgot all about social media,” Adora chuckled at herself, “Don’t say it, I know I’m an idiot.”</p>
<p>“No, no, I’m still calling you an idiot,” Catra spat. She tossed Adora’s hands off her shoulders and ignored the shocked look on Adora’s face. “You forgot the second part of that conversation, Adora. I told you that I didn’t want you to ‘keep in touch with me.’ I never wanted to see you again. I never got a new phone; I blocked you. And I would block you on social media too, if my phone wasn’t broken right now.” She gestured towards her phone on the kitchen table.</p>
<p>Catra looked down at the floor and sighed. “You’re remembering the wrong thing. The promise we made to each other? That we would both go to Fright Zone State? That we would never <em> leave each other </em> ? Well, you left, Adora. You left me, with Shadow Weaver of all people!… You <em> abandoned </em> me and left for Bright Moon.”</p>
<p>Catra stopped and looked back at Adora. She hadn’t moved from where she was standing a few inches away from Catra, but she felt so far away. She looked so small, and her eyes were shimmering with the beginnings of tears.</p>
<p>“And what about now?” she whispered.</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>“And now? Do you still never want to see me again?”</p>
<p>Catra scoffed, “Even now, you’re still too good for an apology.” Adora took Catra’s hands and held them at her waist.</p>
<p>“I- Catra… I’m not sorry that I went to Bright Moon. It’s been a great opportunity for me. But, but,” she squeezed Catra’s hands as she tried to pull away, “I am sorry… so sorry, that we lost touch. Now that I’ve found you… I never want to let you go.”</p>
<p>Catra took a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions from consuming her. It’s something that she’d been working on. And this was <em> not </em> the time for a panic attack. If she was being honest with herself, Catra would admit that Scorpia had been right during game night. Later on, she had tried to reason with Catra.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> “Maybe you should hear what Adora has to say?” Scorpia asked after Entrapta left. After an evening of pestering, Scorpia had finally gotten the entire story out of Catra. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> “Scorpia, I told you. I don’t want to talk about this.” </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> “I mean, this is the girl that you’ve been pining after and moping about for three years, right?” she prompted, “Maybe it’s time to reconcile.” </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Catra hadn’t wanted to hear anymore then and had thrown a book at Scorpia’s head, effectively shutting her up for the night. But now, standing in front of Adora, Catra was having a harder time denying the reality that she wasn’t ready to never see Adora again, and she probably would never be ready for that kind of reality.</p>
<p>Catra’s inner debate was rudely interrupted by Adora collapsing once again. Her brief lucidity had ended and now she was falling asleep in a pile on the floor.</p>
<p>“Oh shit, Adora, wake up. You need to go home,” Catra bent down to pick her up. Adora mumbled something unintelligible.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>Adora groggily opened her eyes a few millimeters and cupped Catra’s cheek. Heart beating out of her chest, Catra fought the urge to press her face into the comfort of Adora’s palm.</p>
<p>“Can’t I just sleep with you?” Adora whined before re-closing her eyes, “It’ll be like old times.”</p>
<p>Catra flushed. “No, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she stammered, “Did you drive here?”</p>
<p>Adora grunted a ‘nuh uh’ sound. “Bus,” she said sleepily.</p>
<p>“Okay, I’m calling you a cab,” Catra nodded, as she hauled Adora to her feet and made her way over to the apartment’s landline.</p>
<p>After she finished calling the taxi service, Adora, still half-asleep, slurred, “Catra, I still want to have this conversation.”</p>
<p>Catra regarded the sleeping blonde in her arms. Unable to find any words, she waited until Adora fell asleep again. She took a sticky note from Scorpia’s collection and wrote:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> Meet me tomorrow - Sunday at 4 </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> @ the coffee shop </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> On Mystacor Dr. and Salineas St. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> - Catra </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Catra folded the note and stuck it in Adora’s jacket pocket. She hoped Adora would find it when she woke up in the morning; she knew from past experience that Adora wouldn’t remember much.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>When Adora got home, she thanked the poor taxi driver for carrying her up the stairs, and promptly crashed into bed. She winced as she landed on her phone and wriggled to get it out from under her. In a daze, she opened Snapchat and typed out a message.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> @agrayskull24 to @applesaucemeowmeow </em>
</p>
<p>I’m still in love with you, Catra.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then she passed out.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>Catra curled up in her bed after Adora left. She clutched a pillow from the couch in her  arms. It smelled like Adora. Adora’s words replayed in her head. <em> Can’t I just sleep with you? It'll be like old times. </em> Catra closed her eyes and dreamt of the last time she and Adora had shared a bed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you guys enjoyed the second chapter! It's definitely a bit longer than I was expecting it to be this long, but c'est la vie!</p>
<p>The next couple chapters will be flashbacks, because we love some good non-linear storytelling &lt;3</p>
<p>Expected Update: 3/17???</p>
<p>Please leave comments; they make my day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Day You Loved Me Pt. 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"Am I allowed to look at her like that?" - She by Dodie</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Three years, 26 days, and 9 hours earlier </em>
</p><p>Catra kicked a rock on the curb as she headed back to Shadow Weaver’s after school. She was walking home alone once again, something that was becoming far too common for Catra’s taste. But it was an inevitability once the soccer season started going in full swing. As team captain, class president, and valedictorian, Adora had too much on her plate to accompany Catra home every day. Catra didn’t blame her, if anything, she was proud of the work her best friend was putting in, and the recognition she was bound to receive.</p><p>As she rounded the corner and started heading up the driveway, Catra absentmindedly stuck her hand out and flicked the mailbox open. It was such a practiced motion; Catra barely noticed the two abnormally large letters with her name emblazoned on them in large print until they were in her hands. Her eyes went wide and quickly shot up to the front door to see if any of the other kids, or worse Shadow Weaver, was watching. In the clear, she shoved the letters under her shirt and tightly crossed her arms to keep the letters from falling out.</p><p>She opened the door to the foster home to chaos, children running wild. Catra breathed a sigh of relief - Shadow Weaver must not be home. Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle paused mid-wrestling match to see her coming inside.</p><p>“Hey, Catra!” Kyle greeted brightly, or as brightly as he could while being strangled in Rogelio’s chokehold. Catra, in return, merely gave a small tight smile and tightened her arms around herself before heading up the stairs.</p><p>“Ha, classic Catra,” she heard Kyle choking out just before Lonnie gave her signature battle yell. Crashes from the wrestling match continued as Catra headed into her and Adora’s shared room.</p><p>*****</p><p>The peaceful orange light of the sunset streamed into Catra and Adora’s room in hazy rays, partitioned by the window panes. One beam fell on Catra’s desk, where she’d been giddily smiling to herself for the past two hours. The two letters, one from FZ State and one from BMU, lay side by side both boasting ‘Congratulations on your acceptance!’ amidst pictures of students lounging in various campus areas.</p><p>Catra leaned back in her chair and grinned at the ceiling. She had barely let herself dream that she would get into Bright Moon University. She hadn’t even told anyone that she was applying, not even Adora. It was a given that she was going to attend Fright Zone State, that was what she and Adora had agreed to when they were kids. It had started as a silly 8-year old pact, but as time went on, both Catra and Adora agreed that they would never want to go to college without each other. Plus, nearly everyone who passed through Shadow Weaver’s foster home ended up at FZU. It was practically a given that she and Adora would go there next fall. So, when Catra had applied to the prestigious university, she didn’t expect it would ever amount to anything. Even now, she knew she would still choose FZU, but still, it was nice to be recognized.</p><p>The doorknob rattled. </p><p>‘Shit,’ Catra thought to herself. She should’ve known that Shadow Weaver had gotten home; it was too quiet. She hastily shoved her acceptance letters underneath an old essay rough draft laying on her cluttered desk. She kicked out her leg to knock the chair she had wedged under the door handle to give herself some privacy.</p><p>Shadow Weaver collapsed into the room as soon as the chair was out of the way. She must’ve had her entire weight behind the door trying to get into Catra and Adora’s room. She caught herself on Catra’s desk before she fell. Straightening up and brushing down the front of her top to regain her composure, Shadow Weaver pointed at the chair which now lay on its side.</p><p>“What is this?” she scowled, “Taking away the locks on the doors wasn’t enough? Do I have to take away chairs now too?”</p><p>Catra blanched. “I- no, I just-” </p><p>Shadow Weaver raised a single hand to interrupt her. Catra tried hard not to flinch, tried hard to stand her ground, but her reflexes, trained by years of avoiding the stinging slap of Shadow Weaver’s hand, won out. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice.</p><p>“I don’t want to hear it,” Shadow Weaver continued, “you have bigger things to worry about.”</p><p>Catra raised an eyebrow. “Worry about what?” she questioned. She tried to think. She did her laundry, the dishes, her homework… she couldn’t think of anything that Shadow Weaver could be mad at her about.</p><p>“Don’t play coy with me. It’s not attractive,” she waved her hand dismissively. Catra fought the urge to roll her eyes. “There is an enormous mess downstairs. I want it cleaned up before Adora comes home from her soccer game. She has enough to worry about without you and your mess distracting her. Honestly, you think that now you are a senior, you are above doing your chores? You—”</p><p>Catra could feel herself dissociating. It happened pretty frequently whenever Shadow Weaver would start in on her with one of her quintessential manipulative lectures. She just had to keep one ear open to sense when Shadow Weaver’s speech was coming to an end. She started thinking about anything, literally anything else, except the words coming out of Shadow Weaver’s mouth. And as it often did, that day’s dissociative broadcast was brought to you by Adora.</p><p>Catra replayed the day’s earlier memories in her head. During English class, Adora shot her hand up for nearly every single question. It made Catra shrink down in her seat; she didn’t like the entire class looking back at her and Adora. She’d much rather stay camouflaged into the back of the classroom where they sat together, but try-hard Adora would never let an opportunity to show off her knowledge go by. <em> Dummy </em>.</p><p>Recently, Catra had come to the realization that she had feelings for Adora, and she had probably felt this way about her for as long as she had known her. It wasn’t like a lightning bolt came and the epiphany struck that Adora was something special. It was more like the tide flowing in, a slow but steady, unstoppable force. As she and Adora grew up together, Catra always felt that something was… not quite right in the way that people would describe their relationship. They were best friends, for sure, but the label didn’t seem to convey their bond. She’d had teachers and friends compare their relationship to sisters, but that just felt <em>wrong</em> in so many ways. The only thing that felt <em>right</em> was Adora. She could never see herself ever being in a relationship with anyone else, and she definitely couldn’t bear to see Adora in a relationship with someone other than her. On the other hand, Catra would rather die than let Adora know how she felt.</p><p>Shadow Weaver slapped Catra on the back of her head. <em> Hard. </em> Catra ripped herself out of her internal monologue and tried to remember what Shadow Weaver was complaining about has her head spun and her ears rang from the force of the blow.</p><p>“Are you even listening?” Shadow Weaver snapped, “It’s no wonder your grades are slipping, you can’t even pay attention to your own mother.”</p><p>If Catra let her face reveal any emotion, her lips would have started curling immediately. Already, she could feel her eyes start to narrow. Shadow Weaver was anything but a mother figure, for her to refer to herself as such was pure sickening. And her grades were doing just fine, thank you very much. Catra thought about the acceptance letters hiding under her clutter.</p><p>‘Well, my grades were certainly enough to get into BMU,’ she internally retorted. Catra was seething, but she forced herself to remain impassive. She settled for a “mmhm” noise. Seemingly put off that she wasn’t going to get a rise out of Catra, Shadow Weaver harrumphed.</p><p>“Just make sure that mess gets cleaned up by tonight.” She turned to leave the room.</p><p>“Wait, Shadow Weaver,” Catra hesitated, “What would you think… if I went to Bright Moon?” Catra didn’t know what came over her. Maybe she wanted to share her good news with somebody, or maybe she was subconsciously seeking validation. Though, why she would seek validation from Shadow Weaver of all people, she didn’t know.</p><p>“Bright Moon?” Shadow Weaver laughed incredulously, “As if you would ever get accepted there.”</p><p>Catra bit her tongue. “Humor me,” she said dryly.</p><p>“Well, I suppose I would be glad!” Shadow Weaver exclaimed with an overexaggerated sigh. Catra’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. </p><p>“Really?” she exclaimed lightly. Catra never expected Shadow Weaver to be proud of anything she ever did. Usually, it was Adora who would receive all the praise and Catra all the insults.</p><p>“Of course!” Shadow Weaver patted Catra’s cheek. “You would be there, and Adora will be at Fright Zone State, naturally, so you won’t be able to distract her from her work anymore!”</p><p>Any semblance of a smile that had started to form left Catra’s face immediately. She should’ve known better, honestly. Catra would never be anything except a barrier keeping Adora from bigger and better things. Though she knew that much of what Shadow Weaver said was standard bullshit, Catra couldn’t help but fear every once in a while that Shadow Weaver was right. If Adora didn’t have to keep sticking her neck out for Catra when she got in trouble, with Shadow Weaver, teachers, and law enforcement, she probably would’ve been president of the United States by now.</p><p>But the day that Catra would agree with Shadow Weaver would be the day that pigs flew. If there was any doubt in Catra’s mind before, it was dispelled. She would be attending FZ State, no matter what. She’d be damned if she let anything come between her and her best friend.</p><p>“Thank you for your input,” Catra grumbled from behind clenched teeth. Shadow Weaver patted her cheek once more before leaving the room to go terrorize some other poor child.</p><p>Once she was gone, Catra slowly unclenched her jaw and let out a shaky breath. Shadow Weaver scared the bejeezus out of everyone she came across, but with Catra, she seemed to prefer subtle mind manipulation instead of fear tactics. Catra didn’t know how she did it, but the entire room seemed colder. It was like Shadow Weaver had sucked the sun out of the room as soon as she stepped foot in it, like some kind of demonic heat vampire.</p><p>Shivering, Catra felt the cold seep into her. And yet, her hands felt clammy with sweat. Her heart and her mind started racing a mile a minute, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe.</p><p>‘Shit,” she thought to herself. She knew the signs of a panic attack like the back of her hand. She gripped the side of her desk and tried to focus on taking deep breaths. Her thoughts circled around her brain like vultures coming in for the kill. They took on a voice that sounded eerily like Shadow Weaver’s.</p><p>
  <em> You’re just a distraction. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’re not good enough. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’re nothing but an obstacle. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You mean nothing. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She’ll never feel the same way. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> How dare you even look at your friend like that. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Pervert. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’re taking advantage. </em>
</p><p>In the midst of her spiraling, Catra heard the door open. She felt more than saw a blonde halo waltz into the room with a pizza box in hand. </p><p>
  <em> Adora. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Adora. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Adora’s home. </em>
</p><p>“Guess who got the last pizza before they closed!” Catra heard Adora sing-song as she tossed the box onto her bed, “Do you think ham and jalapeño pizza counts as an alliteration? They’ve both got that… <em> hughhgh </em>sound… What do you think? … Catra? Oh shit.”</p><p>Adora rushed over to Catra’s desk, where she was pathetically gasping and panting.</p><p>“Heyy, Adora…” Catra’s voice wavered, barely managing to get out two simple words. She looked up at her best friend. Adora had her game face on, brows furrowed and tightlipped, but with eyes full of kindness.</p><p>Adora got straight to business. “Pressure?” she asked, with her arms spread wide. Catra nodded, and Adora immediately enveloped her in a bear hug. She started rubbing one hand in soothing circles on her back. Catra’s breathing started to come back to her and her mind stopped running wild.</p><p>“Feeling faint? Need water?” Adora asked, checking off the mental checklist she had for whenever Catra had panic attacks, which was pretty common these days. Catra shook her head no, but Adora wasn’t convinced.</p><p>“I’m going to get you something to drink,” she declared, stepping back and leaving the embrace. Catra grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her back in. Adora squeaked and her face felt a bit warmer on Catra’s shoulder than before. <em> Probably because she’s still sweaty from soccer. </em></p><p>“No, no, I’m fine. I’m feeling better already,” Catra reassured her, “Just… stay here a bit longer.”</p><p>In response, Adora gripped Catra a bit harder. She turned her head so that her nose was pressing into the side of Catra’s neck. Catra struggled to keep her breathing in control and determinedly stared at the wall.</p><p>“So,” Adora cautioned, “what happened? I mean, did anything specific trigger you?”</p><p>“Just the old lady’s usual bull, nothing special,” Catra deflected.</p><p>“Good,” Adora nodded, but then abruptly stood up, “I mean, not good that Shadow’s a bitch… Just, like, I was ready to beat up Mrs. Spinnerella if her English homework caused a panic attack.” She emphasized her point by punching her fist into her hand.</p><p>Catra laughed. “You’d punch an English teacher for me?”</p><p>“Well, yeah, of course!” Adora blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. Catra rather enjoyed making Adora flustered with meaningless teases and flirts. After all, those sarcastic reactions would be the closest to the real thing she’d ever get. At least Catra could pretend they were real in her daydreams.</p><p>“You said something about pizza?” Catra asked, swiftly changing the topic when she noticed Adora and her were just staring at each other. Adora’s face lit up.</p><p>“Ham and Jalapeño!” she did a little jig as she retrieved the box.</p><p>“Naturally! What else would we get?” Catra exclaimed incredulously.</p><p>*****</p><p>Hours later, after eating their fill of pizza, cleaning the wreckage left behind by the wrestling match, and taking showers, Adora and Catra went to bed. More accurately, Adora went to bed. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep; she was exhausted after a long and hard soccer match. So while Adora filled the room with soft snores, Catra whiled away the hours scrolling through videos on her phone, saving the ones she wanted to show to Adora in the morning.</p><p>She paused her video as Adora grumbled in her sleep, something about horses, and turned so that her head was facing Catra’s side of the bed. It had become such a common occurrence for Adora and Catra to have “sleepovers” in each other’s beds that they’d eventually just pushed the two beds together to create one big super-bed.</p><p>Catra turned off her phone and shoved it under her pillow so that when morning came, her alarm would vibrate her entire head and she wouldn’t be able to ignore it. She curled up on her side and faced Adora. The moonlight illuminated the loose strands of blonde hair falling lightly on Adora’s face. Catra’s hand twitched as she fought the urge to brush the hair behind her ear. </p><p>She silently wished Adora was awake so that she could look into her crystal-blue eyes. Her eyes were Catra’s favorite things about Adora, she thought to herself. She could drown in them for hours. Some other favorites included her biceps, and some less superficial things like her sense of humor, her determination, or the way that she just <em> understood </em> Catra. Though, Catra supposed, if Adora truly understood Catra, she probably would have realized that her best friend was in love with her.</p><p>Catra suddenly realized that if Adora was to wake up in that moment like she was wishing, she would see her creepy best friend staring at her in ways Catra doubted could be explained in a not-gay way. She lay on her back and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to fall asleep.</p><p>Not more than 5 seconds passed before Catra’s eyes flew back open. Adora had rolled over further in her sleep, and her arm had landed on Catra and was <em> gripping her thigh </em> . Well, maybe not gripping, but her hand was palm-down <em> on her thigh </em>, and that was practically the same thing.</p><p>If Catra took a moment to think things through, she would have remembered that this wasn’t exactly an infrequent occurrence, seeing as they’d been sharing a bed since forever. However, Catra wasn’t exactly thinking <em> platonically </em> after an entire day of fawning over her best friend.</p><p>Reminding herself that breathing was necessary to live, Catra released the air that she’d been holding in. She clutched the bed sheet next to her with the hand that wasn’t currently <em> pinned under Adora </em> , and tried her best not to move. She tried ignoring the warmth that was currently spreading through her body, not with much success. She slowly turned her head to see where Adora was and nearly had a heart attack. Adora’s face was mere <em> inches </em> from her own. Adora gave a little snort in her sleep before continuing with her mini-snores, and the air rustled Catra’s hair.</p><p>Catra didn’t think it was possible for her heart to beat any louder than it was currently. She made it through what felt like a good 30 minutes of thigh gripping/hand laying before she couldn’t take it anymore. She abruptly clambered out of the bed and straight out the window. As she climbed out, Catra heard Adora wake up. <em> Shit, shit, shit </em>. In her mad escape from the tender clutches of Adora, Catra had tried, and failed, to maneuver herself without waking Adora.</p><p>“Catra?” she heard the groggy voice croak, “what the…”</p><p>Catra didn’t stop her trek along the roof outside their window to the small balcony where they always hung out. She was a woman with a mission. What that mission was… was to be determined at a later date. All she knew was that she had to get some air and some space from Adora, because Lord knows what Catra would do if she got her crazy, best-friend-loving hands on her.</p><p>By the time she got to the spot, Adora was already climbing out the window to follow her. Catra groaned and put her head in her hands on the railing. <em> Great, just great. </em></p><p>“Another anxiety attack? No biggie, pressure?” Adora yawned, arms already outstretched.</p><p>Catra gave a little panicked chuckle to herself as she backed away from Adora. She doubted she would be able to control herself if Adora did some more embracing.</p><p>“No, no, I’m good, thanks.”</p><p>Adora was not deterred. “Come on, you know my hugs always make you feel better!”</p><p>“Adora, no,” Catra got a little forceful, trying to send Adora back to bed.</p><p>“Come on-”</p><p>“Not having a panic attack, Adora!” Catra exasperated. Adora frowned, and put her arms down.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Adora sounded so concerned, it made Catra want to scream. <em> Oh nothing, you big dummy, I’m just unreasonably horny and frustrated because you accidentally touched me while you were asleep. </em> How was she supposed to suppress her feelings if Adora was always there, being so <em> perfect </em>?</p><p>“Nothing, go back to sleep. We have school tomorrow,” Catra said wearily.</p><p>Adora’s eyes searched hers. Her eyebrows furrowed. “Is it something I did?” She questioned.</p><p>The absurdity of the situation kicked in. “You have no idea,” Catra laughed under her breath. Adora’s eyes widened; she looked terrified. <em> Oh no </em>.</p><p>“Is it…” Adora stared at her hands, as if the answer lay there, “is it the edits I made on your grammar homework? I just added an Oxford comma, you forgot, I didn’t think it was a big deal.”</p><p>“No, Ador-”</p><p>“Or was it because I told Lonnie that you are scared of mice?” Adora stepped closer to Catra. Catra tried to back up further, but she was trapped by the railing. She was trapped… unless she was willing to jump off the roof to avoid Adora.</p><p>“I know that you are very particular about what you want people to know about you,” Adora continued, cornering Catra, “I can’t make Lonnie forget it, but I can make sure she doesn’t tell anyone!”</p><p>Catra really wanted Adora to stop talking. She just needed a moment to clear her head and then she would be good to go.</p><p>“I just really don’t want you to be mad at me,” Adora sounded close to a panic attack herself. <em> How do I make her stop talking? </em></p><p>“Whatever I did, I’m so sorr- mmph!” Catra interrupted Adora with the only logical thing that came to mind. She closed the gap between them and kissed her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Argh, sorry for the late update! Calculus is a worthless subject and it should die in a hole.</p><p>Please tell me what you think! The entire idea for this fic came from me imagining the thigh scene, because i'm horny and lonely.</p><p>Update in 2 weeks (i hope)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Day You Loved Me Pt. 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>these bitches gay..... good for them, good for them!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Adora gasped as Catra moved in to kiss her, her air swallowed by Catra’s lips as they crashed together. Catra’s hands moved up to cup her face, pulling her in closer as though she was afraid Adora would vanish into thin air. Adora’s heart didn’t seem to be working. Or maybe it was time itself which had stopped. In either case, the only thought running through Adora’s mind was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra was kissing her. Let the record reflect that Catra is, in fact, kissing her. Right now. In this moment. Her best friend, the love of her life, her unrequited crush… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Well, maybe not unrequited…?</span>
  </em>
  <span> was in her arms, beautifully illuminated by the moonlight, </span>
  <em>
    <span>kissing</span>
  </em>
  <span> her. Every single one of Adora’s senses were filled with Catra. She smelled like the cheap dollar store body wash, of lavender and jasmine. She tasted of the minty toothpaste that the two of them shared plus something deeper, something inherently </span>
  <em>
    <span>Catra</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s eyes fluttered closed and she started moving her lips against Catra’s with as much heat as she was receiving. The reciprocation seemed to startle Catra and she suddenly pulled away, just enough so that their lips were no longer touching. Adora heard a somewhat disgruntled noise escape herself as she found herself chasing the pressure of Catra’s lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Opening her eyes, Adora found her best friend staring at her, quite wild-eyed. Catra was panting lightly as if she’d just sprinted up the stairs, and Adora could feel the warmth of her breath on her own skin. Adora let her eyes flicker down to Catra’s lips and felt heat rush through her chest as she saw the slightly kiss-swollen redness of the flesh. She moved her gaze slowly back up to Catra’s eyes and gasped as she witnessed the intensity of Catra’s expression. She looked… predatory. Her gaze had darkened as she watched Adora not-so-subtly look at her lips. She ran her tongue over her lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Adora and Catra rejoined for their second kiss, it was like two waves coming crashing together. Where the first kiss had been like one wave lapping against a passive and somewhat shocked shore, this one crested like the push and pull of the tide creating the largest tsunami the world had ever seen. Adora’s hands swiftly but deftly moved up Catra’s sides to tangle her fingers in Catra’s mane of hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra gasped into Adora’s mouth, and Adora felt her knees go weak as their lips and </span>
  <em>
    <span>tongues</span>
  </em>
  <span> started moving against each other with more and more fervor. What had started out as one deep, passionate kiss was turning into ten or twenty, each more desperate than the last but no less tender and toe-curling. And Adora wanted more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She broke away from Catra’s lips, and started kissing her way up Catra’s jawline. She wanted to feel, </span>
  <em>
    <span>to taste</span>
  </em>
  <span>, every inch of Catra while she had her here, pinned against her. Adora clutched her waist, gripping Catra’s soft sleep shirt in bruising clasps. When Adora had left her kissing range, Catra started grappling for Adora’s collar to drag her back to her lips, but her annoyed whine quickly turned high and breathy when Adora got to a certain sensitive spot on her neck. Her head fell back, giving Adora more access to the soft and delicate skin awaiting her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora tried to press into Catra further, as if there was more space to close in between them. The only problem was, they were as close as two people could get. And yet, Adora wanted to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>closer</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Frustrated, she adjusted herself so that her knee went in between Catra’s thighs, interlocking their two bodies like a puzzle piece. As Adora’s thigh pressed into Catra, Catra let out a strangled moan that sent heat coursing down every bone in Adora’s body. Catra froze for a moment. Adora paused in her ministrations and leaned back to look at Catra.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked terrified. She stared somewhere over Adora’s shoulder into the expanse of the city, which sprawled out under their roof. What was once heat in her eyes was now frozen with fear and anxiety. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh no, oh no. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Adora immediately tried to backtrack. She scrambled away from Catra, to give her some space.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I- um, shit,” Adora stammered, her face red, hands out in front of her like she was surrendering, “consent. I mean, fuck…. Yes, consent? Do I have your- uhm,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thankfully, Adora didn’t have to finish bumbling her way through her sentence as she tried to awkwardly cough the arousal out of her voice. Not-so-thankfully, it was because Catra had sprinted up the roof away from her and into the nearest open window. Even-more-not-so-thankfully, that window belonged to Shadow Weaver’s office. Shadow Weaver should be asleep across the hall, but Adora wasn’t about to take the risk of her waking up and discovering Catra poking around her office. Especially not when Catra had already endured a Weaver-lecture that day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Catra!” She whisper-yelled, “come back!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But it was too late. Catra had already clambered through the open window. She heard the unmistakable sound of shattering glass from inside the room ring through the air. Adora felt her eyes widen and her heart race.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shit,” Adora sprinted to the window and peered inside. It was too dark to see anything. Catra, lean and flexible, had been able to slip through the window’s opening, but Adora knew she would never fit with so much ease. She gripped the base of the window frame and heaved upward, trying to increase the size of the gap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra!” she hissed. The window didn’t budge more than an inch. Giving up the futile attempt, Adora backed away from the window and gave herself a little running start before she shoved her entire body headfirst through the tight opening. The only logical option, really.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She got decently far with her initial charge, her momentum stopping her at her hips. She looked back; she had managed to clear her butt, but her thighs were now being uncomfortably pinched between the two parts of the window frame. Adora writhed and wriggled as she tried to get the rest of her body through the window. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stupid… thigh workouts,” she grunted with effort, cursing the soccer gods for making a sport so dependent on legs. She dimly perceived a dull, slicing pain in her thigh as her leg caught on one of the sharp edges of the window frame. The house was old, and it was starting to fall apart. Shadow Weaver was too cheap to fix anything, and now her pants would be ripped thanks to whatever screw was sticking out of the woodwork. Not that charging head first through a window could be considered a smart idea. With one final buck of her hips, she broke free and sent herself falling into the office. Her leg stung. Adora held back a groan; she’d probably wake up tomorrow morning with a sick bruise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She rolled over, landing next to a shattered picture frame, which held one of Adora’s soccer clinic certificates. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Most Valuable Player</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Adora scoffed. She didn’t understand why Shadow Weaver felt the need to display what were Adora’s own achievements in her personal office. Selfish bitch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eyes scanning over the room, Adora found Catra curled up in a corner, facing the wall. She was reminded of the many times Catra would retreat into that same fetal position when they were children, mostly after one of Shadow Weaver’s rants. And Adora would come find her, comfort and reassure her. But this did not happen as a result of Shadow Weaver’s emotional or physical abuse. Adora could hear light sounds of crying coming from the girl in the corner. Shame rolled over her. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I did that, I made her cry.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora shifted her weight in an attempt to stand up and winced. Sharp pain shot down her leg, radiating from where her leg caught on the window. Shoving the pain down, Adora resorted to slowly crawling her way over to Catra.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra?” Adora hesitated. The slightly rocking figure stilled. “Catra, I’m so sorry… I never should have taken advantage of-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sharply turned around and cut her off, “What?” She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the heel of her hands. “Taking advantage- what? No, that’s not why I’m…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no. You have every right to be mad at me, I deserve it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looked incredulous. She placed her hands on top of Adora’s forearms. “Adora, I’m not mad at you. I…” The moonlight shining through the dark room was bright enough for Adora to see a faint blush on Catra’s cheeks. “I kissed you first.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re… not mad at me?” Adora’s eyes were welling up. Her heart felt so full.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra huffed. “Of course not, stupid. I’m mad at…” She broke off and stared at where her arms lay on top of Adora’s. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Adora had stopped listening. She launched herself into a bear hug, burying her neck in Catra’s shoulder. She smiled into her shirt. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I didn’t screw it up. Yay me. </span>
  </em>
  <span>But in her movement, Adora jostled her thigh, causing another shot of pain to lance its way through her leg. She winced and slumped away from Catra.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ow,” she said stupidly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora? Are you okay?” Catra reached up and turned on an overhead lamp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora closed her eyes, squinting against the bright light. “Yeah, I just scratched myself.” She leaned back against the wall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“… Adora…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mhmm?” Adora really just wanted to bask in the glory of her closeness with Catra. She didn’t screw up their friendship, and odds were, she would probably get another chance at telling her how she truly felt in the future. Best Case Scenario.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora,” Catra’s voice was insistent. Adora opened a single eye and was confused to find Catra’s eyes as wide as saucers, staring at Adora’s thigh. Adora looked down, expecting to see a hole in her pajama pants and maybe a touch of purple from a developing bruise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes widened to rival Catra’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ohhhh, shitttttt…ake mushrooms.” Her thigh was open, an inch-deep gash making its way across her flesh. Blood was welling around the wound and it was starting to trickle its way onto the floor. Adora’s head started swimming from the sight of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra glanced over her shoulder at the broken picture frame. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Adora’s gaping wound and the glass that littered the ground. If it was physically possible, her eyes would have gone even wider.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The door to the office creaked open. Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio’s heads appeared in the doorway. Both Adora and Catra immediately put their fingers to their lips, an instinct to keep everyone quiet and to keep Shadow Weaver asleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What happened? We heard something fall!” Lonnie whispered. The younger girl tiptoed into the room, with the other two boys following close behind. Their jaws fell open as they saw the wound on Adora’s thigh and the steadily growing pool of blood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The presence of other people in the room seemed to spur Catra into action. She shook off her shock and abruptly stood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you just standing there?” She hissed, “Get me a towel!” Kyle tripped over himself in his rush to action, just barely avoiding crashing into Shadow Weaver’s desk. By the time he regained his footing, Rogelio was back from the bathroom down the hallway with an armful of bath towels.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing?” Adora whined as Catra started wrapping towels around her leg. Catra wouldn’t even make eye contact with her. Adora ducked and weaved to try and catch her eye, “I’m fine!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right. You totally don’t need stitches and are probably delusional from blood loss.” Catra rolled her eyes as she tied a knot around a shoddy, makeshift tourniquet. Adora winced as the sensitive flesh around the cut was pinched between layers of fabric.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra moved like a blizzard. She grabbed Shadow Weaver’s car keys off of its hook on the wall and slung a jacket over her shoulders. Hoisting Adora onto her feet, she slung Adora’s arm around her neck and supported a majority of her weight. Adora let it happen; things were moving way too fast for her to do anything anyway. Or maybe it was just the floor that was spinning. She heard Catra give rapid instructions to Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Clean up the picture frame and the blood before we get back from the hospital. And be quiet. If Shadow Weaver wakes up, we’re done for.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And what if she does wake up?” Kyle squeaked fearfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Make something up, Kyle, I don’t care,” Catra growled, “You guys owe me after leaving that mess for me to clean up in the living room.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then they left, Catra supporting Adora as she slowly limped down the stairs and into Shadow Weaver’s car, which Catra had only driven once or twice before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They just made it out of the driveway before Adora passed out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*******</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra tore into the Crimson Waste General Hospital parking lot, much to the ire of the paramedics taking a break outside the entrance to the emergency center. She screeched to a halt as close as she could to the doors.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, kid?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra didn’t bother to answer as she clambered out of the car and raced around to the passenger side. Adora’s body slumped out as she opened the door, and Catra fumbled with her sweater, trying to keep her from falling to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh shit, what happened?” the paramedic exclaimed, coming around to help. The burly woman, unlike Catra, had no problem lifting Adora out of the car. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I- uh, she and I were- she fell and sliced her leg,” Catra stammered. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to tell the EMT that Adora’s injury was sustained through no fault of her own, but rather the fault of her idiot best friend who was freaking out over being kissed. It just didn’t seem like information that they needed to know. Catra’s heart was racing and her adrenaline was pumping, but she couldn’t care less. She reached over to brush a few strands of hair out of Adora’s face. The unconscious girl stirred lightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“... hnng… Catra?” she moaned softly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m here, Adora, I’m right here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The paramedic signaled for a gurney from one of her co-workers. “I’ll take her from here, kid,” she grunted, hoisting Adora onto the cart, “Go park the car and then come in, alright? This area is for ambulances only.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra nodded, glad to be given something to do instead of standing around while Adora was hurt. As she walked back to the car, she heard the paramedic explain to a waking Adora, “Hey there, I’m Huntara, you’re gonna be okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fifteen minutes later, Catra cursed as she drove through yet another floor of the hospital’s parking garage without any open spots. Her adrenaline, though still racing as she itched to get back to Adora’s side, had somewhat calmed down since she first realized Adora had been hurt. If anything, the aimless driving around gave Catra the much needed time to analyze her feelings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra slowed to a stop behind another car who had managed to snag a parking spot after goose-guarding it as the prior occupant left. She used the opportunity to lightly bang her head on the steering wheel. Kissing Adora had been </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span> in more ways than one. There were so many better options to get Adora to shut up that did not involve giving away her crush. On the other hand, the kiss had been </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span> amazing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sighed as she recalled the way that Adora’s lips felt pressed against hers, the way that her </span>
  <em>
    <span>body</span>
  </em>
  <span> felt pressed up against hers. It had been everything she had dreamed of and more. Catra shook her head and thumped it against her steering wheel a few extra times for good measure. This was why she had pulled away. This was why she had idiotically hyperventilated in a corner until Miss Golden Girl Superhero had to come check on her, only to injure herself on something Catra had knocked over. That something being a symbol of Adora’s invincibility (on the soccer field, at least). How ironic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra was scared of how in love with Adora she was. Her feelings were so consuming, they had boiled over and resulted in… this. Directly or not, her feelings had caused Adora’s wound. After all this time, Shadow Weaver was right: Catra would always drag Adora down. When things got a bit too heated, Catra pulled away. She stopped herself… because all she could hear in her head was Shadow Weaver saying, “Distraction. You’re holding Adora back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra had pulled away, because she cared for Adora too much. She cared too much to let Adora waste time or energy on her. Adora barely had enough of her precious time as it was; she certainly wouldn’t have enough time to sort out whatever feelings Catra had for her. Catra couldn’t do that to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, Catra found a spot at the very top level of the parking garage, where it was open to the sky. From up there, she could see all of the city of Etheria spread out beneath her. If she strained her eyes, Catra could see the hazy outline of their neighborhood, where hopefully the only lights were from the streetlamps and not from Shadow Weaver waking up to find her and Adora gone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But this was not the time to dilly dally and daydream about midnight kisses. Adora was hurt, and Catra needed to be by her side. Grabbing her things from the car, Catra quickly started making her way down the parking garage, not willing to let Adora spend another moment alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But when she got back to the emergency room, Adora seemed just fine. She was awake, sitting up and making up a complicated handshake with a friendly nurse while she chatted with the doctor. She perked up when Catra walked through the privacy curtain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra!” she exclaimed, “DT, this is who I was telling you about! Isn’t she the best?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra avoided eye contact with the bubbly blonde, unsure of how she would be able to emotionally handle the situation if Adora smiled at her. The doctor, DT apparently, walked over to Catra and shook her hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Doctor Double Trouble, at your service,” they said, giving a little bow, “but please, call me DT. Don’t want any of these sticks in the mud thinking I’m causing any trouble!” They gestured to the nurse who was hooking Adora up to an IV. He looked offended at the stick in the mud accusation, but chuckled lightheartedly at a joke Adora whispered in his ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra,” she said, shaking the doctor’s hand, “so, what did I miss?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, your girlfriend here was very lucky!” DT explained, ignoring how Catra startled and sputtered ‘She’s not my girlfriend!’ They walked over to the gurney and gestured at Adora’s thigh, which was now professionally wrapped in medical gauze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The cut missed any major veins or arteries, so with a few stitches and some antibiotics, she should be all set to go in less than an hour. I doubt she’ll even need crutches,” DT wagged their finger at Adora, “but no sports or strenuous activity for the next two weeks, got it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora giggled and gave an affirmative two-fingered salute. Catra raised her eyebrow at the strange behavior.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah… She might be a bit loopy for a while from the blood loss… I assume you drove her here and can drive her back?” questioned DT.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Catra nodded. She slapped Adora’s hand away from playing with her IV attachment site. “So, when is it okay for her to leave?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>DT grinned. “Just as long as it takes for you to fill out this paperwork!” they said, shoving a clipboard into Catra’s arms before prancing out of the room. Catra sunk into the chair next to Adora’s gurney. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” she groaned, “Let’s do this.” She started filling out Adora’s information, most of which she knew, but others were a bit less familiar.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s your insurance number?” she asked. Adora leaned in towards Catra’s ear like she was going to tell her a secret. She opened her mouth and then paused for a second.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your hair smells good,” she giggled, nuzzling the side of Catra’s head with her nose. Catra’s stomach erupted into butterflies. She tamped down her blush.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, Adora, this is serious!” Adora pouted and huffed, turning away from Catra.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s in the notes app on my phone,” she muttered. Catra rolled her eyes and fished Adora’s phone out of her jacket pocket. She entered Adora’s password with a practiced hand and wrote down the information she needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright… emergency contact?” Catra murmured to herself as she filled out the rest of the form, “that would be Shadow W… E… A… V… E… R…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sighed. She tried to ignore how much her heart leapt at the way Adora said her name. There was nothing special about the pronunciation, it was just that it came from a specific set of lips which had a specific timbre of voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Adora?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, my emergency contact is Catra,” Adora corrected. Catra glanced over at her, surprised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora was staring at the ceiling, blinking in time with one of the hospital’s flickering lights. Her head lolled around to face Catra’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who else would it be? Why are you surprised?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra pondered that for a moment. “I don’t know… I mean, you’re my emergency contact too.” She erased Shadow Weaver’s name on the form and wrote down her own.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am?” Adora exclaimed, her face lighting up, “That’s so sweet!” She grabbed Catra’s head and held it to herself in a strangling hug. Catra hoped her immediate blush wouldn’t heat up her skin to a noticeable degree.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me go, you big dummy!” She scratched at Adora’s arm until she let go. She signed her name at the bottom of the form. “Alright, all done,” she said, standing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you help me up?” the blonde simpered, throwing up her best puppy dog eyes. Catra rolled her eyes for what felt like the 50th time that day and nodded. Adora threw her arms up and cheered. Catra couldn’t help but smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh, Mondays, am I right?” Adora chuckled, slinging an arm across Catra’s shoulders and tucking her head into the crook of her neck. Catra’s breath stuttered. It felt as though Adora’s head was the perfect fit on her shoulder… ‘As though she’s the perfect fit for me,’ Catra let herself think for just a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra cleared her throat, mentally berating herself for letting her mind slip back into the gutter while her best friend was in need. She settled for rolling her eyes and used the arm over her shoulder as leverage to help Adora stand up from the hospital bed. Glancing out the window, she noticed that the sun was starting to poke through the tree-line.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, it’s Wednesday, but sure. Come on, we should get back before Kyle has to start making excuses for us to Shadow Weaver.” Groaning as Adora’s weight shifted onto her, Catra helped the still-loopy blonde to the front desk to check out. She slid the necessary papers across the table to the attendant and felt Adora start to slide off her arm. Alarmed, Catra jumped and twisted around trying to catch her, but to her surprise, she didn’t have to worry. True to nature, Adora had melted to the floor to gush over a golden retriever puppy who had come into the hospital to greet patients.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“AWW! Catra, look! Look at my mooshy gooshy baby, oh yes! Yes you are!” Adora babbled as she smushed the retriever’s face against hers. Catra gave an apologetic wince to the owner of the puppy, who shrugged as if this happened all the time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Adora, I’m looking.” Catra had nothing against the puppy, though, she admitted to herself, she often preferred animals of the feline nature. However, at that moment, she couldn’t care less about the golden retriever, for she was much more concerned about the blonde it was being harassed by.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She found herself smiling fondly at Adora, who at this point was practically in tears over the cuteness of the puppy. Catra stared at Adora, perfectly-perfect Adora, dragging her eyes over her face from her hair, which for once was not in a stupid poof but fell lightly around her shoulders, to her lips. Lips which, if Catra stared hard enough, were still slightly swollen from the night’s earlier activities. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lips that she kissed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lips that kissed her back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra lifted her hand to her own lips, as if to solidify the memory in her skin forever. The corner of her eye caught a glimpse of a spot of blood on her jacket sleeve which had evaded her vigorous hand-washing before they left the house. Catra could feel her face pale as she stared at the spot. She could hear Shadow Weaver as if she was standing right behind her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘Distraction. You’re holding Adora back,’ the voice rang through her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Take care of her, now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra startled, and glanced at the attendant who had just spoke. “Sorry, what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I said, take care of her,” she repeated, nodding her head towards Adora. Catra stared at Adora once again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh huh, yeah, sure.” she murmured back as her internal monologue carried on. ‘Take care of her? Catra, world’s biggest screw-up. Taking care of Adora. Adora didn’t need her… Catra was just a… distraction. An obstacle on the way to bigger and better things,’ the voice at the back of her head grew more and more persistent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra reached down and grabbed Adora’s arm, not-so-gently dragging her away from the dog. If Adora was bothered by Catra’s sudden change in demeanor, she didn’t let it show. She happily let Catra lead her out the hospital doors, slowly being able to walk more and more without assistance with every step.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s blood continued rushing in her ears as they started the trek back to the parking garage. Her heart felt so loud she began to fear it would wake Shadow Weaver up all the way back at the foster home. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Badum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Distraction.</span>
  <em>
    <span> Badum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Obstacle.</span>
  <em>
    <span> Badum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora.</span>
  <em>
    <span> Badum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time they had reached the car on the top level, Adora was walking completely on her own, twirling every few steps to watch the snow that had just begun to fall. Catra could barely stand to look at her. She wanted to... desperately… but she knew that if she did, she would be tempted to kiss Adora again. She couldn’t do that to her best friend, couldn’t take away her opportunities for greatness. So she kept her eyes on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora had other plans, it seemed. Twirling once more, she took Catra’s hands and spun her so that they were face-to-face. Catra’s face burned. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Badum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Isn’t the snow so beautiful?” Adora asked, eyes searching the sky, her cheeks rosy from the cold. Catra didn’t bother looking at the sky. She’d seen snow before, and odds were it would look the same as it had in seasons past. Catra stared at Adora. Shit. She did want to kiss her again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Badum Badum Badumbadumbadum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, Adora. It’s beautiful.” Trying to get a hold of her thoughts, Catra looked down at the ground. Her vision blurred the snow that fell on the concrete and melted crystal by crystal. She felt like she couldn’t breathe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora, perfect Adora, tugged lightly on Catra’s hands, which she held loosely in her own. She crouched down a tiny bit to make eye contact with her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey… Hey, look at me, breathe… I’m okay...” She whispered, gesturing to her thigh, “I’m all stitched up!” She giggled at her own joke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She thinks I’m still worried about her.</span>
  </em>
  <span> As much as Catra was relieved that Adora was no longer in pain, she couldn’t stop thinking about how, if it wasn’t for her, Adora would never have needed stitches in the first place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘She’s okay… and she’ll continue to be okay, without you causing her pain. Without you messing things up for her,’ Catra thought bitterly to herself. She clenched her jaw and looked up into bright blue eyes. She lightly shook Adora’s hands off her own, and tried not to notice as they flexed as if to grab Catra back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We...,” Catra coughed, clearing her throat of the lump that was threatening to keep her from getting a single word out, “We should talk about what happened tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Did Adora blush? Or was that just the cold? The blonde took what Catra could only describe as a swaggering step toward her. She reached out and curled her pinky around Catra’s. Warmth spread up Catra’s entire arm from the touch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The kiss? I really enj-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was a mistake.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s heart stopped beating. She could see the faint wisp of her breath rise above her head, but she didn’t feel the need to inhale to replace that air. For all she could care, she could die from suffocation because the worst possible thing that could ever happen had just happened. Catra didn’t love her. Adora didn’t mean to Catra what Catra meant to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A mistake?” she heard herself ask. Her voice sounded weak. Catra had retreated to the other side of the car’s trunk. Adora hated it. She hated being so far away from Catra. What was just a few feet felt like miles between them. Her fingers twitched towards her best friend… her, well, nothing else besides that, apparently. She gripped her traitorous fingers into a fist at her side, digging her nails into her palm in an attempt to focus on that pain instead of the emptiness she felt inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, it was… the heat of the moment,” Catra grimaced in what might’ve been interpreted as a smile by any other person except Adora, “It didn’t mean anything, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora was falling. The concrete had crumbled beneath her feet and she was crashing down towards earth. That was the only explanation for the sickening, vertigo feeling in her chest.</span>
</p>
<p>*********</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra tried to analyze the flickers of emotions that crossed over Adora’s face as she spoke. She didn’t look happy, that much she could say with confidence. But she didn’t look angry either, like Catra had expected. If she had to put a name to the expression on Adora’s face, she would call it heartbroken. Pain lashed through Catra’s own heart as she saw herself be the cause of Adora’s pain once again. She wished Adora was mad. She wished she would scream and yell at Catra, because if Adora hated Catra, then she couldn’t fall in love with her. And that would be best for everybody.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then, just as quickly, all the emotion seemed to leave Adora. She straightened and ran her fingers through her hair. She sighed up at the falling snow for a second, before looking fixedly at Catra from across the car.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ha, yeah, didn’t mean anything,” she finally said. Her eyes were no longer a bright blue, but a steely grey. Catra shivered. Her face shifted into a polite smile. The same sickly-sweet smile Catra had watched Adora practice in the mirror a billion times for college interviews and photo-ops. She felt sick. She never wanted to see such a fake expression on Adora’s face ever again. After what seemed like forever, Adora glanced away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s go home.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra nodded dumbly, moving back around the trunk to help Adora get into the passenger seat. Adora waved her off without looking at her, clutching the side of the car to steady herself as she fell not-so-gracefully into the seat. Catra’s heart sank to the bottom of her stomach and she turned back around. She climbed into the driver’s seat and, after fastening her seatbelt, looked over at Adora. She opened her mouth to say something, anything… but nothing came out. Adora wasn’t looking at her though. She was staring at her hands in her lap so intently, Catra thought they might burst into flames. Catra stared out the front windshield and counted to ten.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘We’re going to be fine,’ she reassured herself, ‘Everything will go back to the way it used to be. Adora will get over me and move on with her life.’ Catra didn’t feel very comforted by those thoughts as she turned the ignition and pulled out of the parking space.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her knuckles were white, gripped the steering wheel for the rest of the drive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>*******</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora stared out the window, unable to look anywhere else in the car. She watched the snow fly by on the highway as she felt the silent tears start to fall.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi guys! Sorry again for the late update, but this has been my longest chapter yet, so hopefully you will forgive me.</p>
<p>We will return to our regularly scheduled pizza delivery programming next chapter, but not to fear, we will return to the past in a bit to learn what happened between these two idiots.</p>
<p>I'm hoping to write a bit faster now that I'm on spring break, but please don't expect too much from me - best case scenario, I actually keep to my original two-week update schedule.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I am a very busy these days, but I am going to try to have at least a bi-weekly update.</p>
<p>Talk to me on tumblr: @booknerdtastic</p></blockquote></div></div>
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